Rector’s Ramblings – July 25, 2024
About a year ago, David Brooks wrote an article in the Atlantic Magazine that has recently made the rounds again entitled “How America Got Mean.” The subtitle for the piece was, “In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.” The article is fascinating for two of its main points: we don’t reach morality as well as we used to (if at all), and our culture of self-centeredness is driving a lot of unhealthy and destructive tendencies. We have distanced ourselves from objective, or at least exterior, sources of moral authority over the last several generations. It seems we are miles from the moral foundation that drove “The Greatest Generation” in many ways.
In the article, Brooks included examples of historic moral teaching used with children, which led me down a rabbit hole of researching the 1916 children’s morality code competition, which the president of Berea College ultimately won for his ten laws of good citizenship. They were published widely and were available to schools for decades, although an 11th law snuck in there along the way, too. The idea was that schools and other organizations, including churches, should intentionally teach morality with the motivation to form “good Americans.” You can read about it HERE and HERE.
The ten laws say that good Americans have self-control, take care of their health, are kind, play fair, are self-reliant, do their duty, are reliable, tell and seek the truth, do the right thing, work together, and are loyal. Really, use those links above to see the details of each law – it’s fascinatingto compare and contrast with what we see in ourselves and our culture. I don’t want to pretend we ever universally achieved those laws, but it still sounds like an amazing aspiration. We must also admit that some of those sentiments, when used as leverage against other groups, could be and were problematic, especially considering the double standards around race in the Jim Crow era or the diminishment of any group that was not regarded as good Americans. Nonetheless, we’ve always been aspirational, and that’s good. Or at least, we used to be aspirational about these sorts of things – that’s kind of the point.
So what has happened? Brooks points to the post-WWII movement towards individual ethics and morality, where we started to decide what was right and good for ourselves. Taken too far, and combined with other factors like the shift towards economic achievement as the highest good of education and life, among others, and eventually, being a good American didn’t mean what it used to. The way back won’t be through force; we can’t legislate moral teaching, although some folks have recently begun strategizing how they would do that very thing. Instead, if we want an aspirational moral outlook again, we must craft it and pursue it ourselves and for our children.
One of the other factors that lies alongside the shift away from moral education is unmistakably the decline of the church. There are many things to be said about why that has happened – it’s not just a random turn of events. Part of the reason institutions that used to hold up and promote morality have declined is because they failed to live up to their own ideals, and people began to see right through the disconnect. Those failures aren’t permanent, however, and they aren’t universal. Just because “the church” has failed doesn’t mean our local churches are failing (at least not always!). There is great value in preaching the Gospel and forming children – and adults – in the classic teachings of Jesus and the Church.
When trying to explain why being part of a healthy Christian community matters, I find myself trying to describe how regular interaction with the Gospel of Jesus draws us away from ourselves and into relationship with people and things (like God!) that are bigger than our individual awareness. That’s why the Christian Church can’t be just about making people feel good; that fuels the self-referential orientation that leads to a lack of shared morals between us. Our salvation is never about ourselves and always about God and what God intends for us and the world. For too many Christians, their faith becomes another way in which it’s all about them. Theologically, that leads to very problematic churches and teaching, which we’re also seeing come to fruition in the public sphere.
I think we can do better. I know we can do better. Humanity has repeatedly experienced eras of cooperation and kindness and periods of selfishness and violence. Most of us have been alive to see the former end of the spectrum more than the latter, but it’s not guaranteed to be that way forever. Not if we don’t treasure it and foster its growth. We have our own laws to fall back on, laws that we seek God’s forgiveness when we break. Jesus broke them down even further to just two: love God and love neighbor. If we can teach those two and be aspirational about them daily, we’ll be okay – better than okay.
Tom+
Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our
heritage: We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove
ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will.
Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and
pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion;
from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend
our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes
brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue
with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust
the authority of government, that there may be justice and
peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we
may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.
In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness,
and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail;
all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.